Jackson pastor sentenced to five years in Bitcoin scheme

A motion graphic explains what Bitcoin is and how Bitcoin works.
Keith Carter and Ashley M. Williams, USA TODAY Network

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In this file photo, Pastor Trevon Gross of Hope Cathedral Church in Jackson prays during a Sandy grief relief seminar at the cathedral. Gross has been found guilty of accepting bribes and other crimes.(Photo: Robert Ward / Staff Photographer)Buy Photo

JACKSON - A popular pastor was sentenced to five years in prison after he took bribes and allowed Bitcoin scammers to take over his Lakewood credit union to launder millions in illegal exchanges.

Trevon Gross, 47, was convicted on charges of receiving corrupt payments, obstructing regulatory investigations and making false statements in March. Gross, a Jackson resident, is the lead pastor of Hope Cathedral, an independent Christian church on Bennetts Mills Road.

Gross's attorneys did not immediately return requests for comment.

Also sentenced Friday was Florida resident Yuri Lebedev, 39, who will serve a 39-month prison term. Lebedev helped operate Coin.mx and approached Gross with bribes to help cover up the Bitcoin exchange site's illegal money laundering.

Coin.mx used a fake antiques company as a front for the illegal Bitcoin exchange – which skirted federal reporting and registration requirements on $10 million in transactions.

Bitcoin is computer-generated digital currency that is used worldwide and is untraceable in most cases.

A pile of Bitcoins are shown here after Software engineer Mike Caldwell minted them in his shop on April 26, 2013 in Sandy, Utah. Bitcoin is an experimental digital currency used over the Internet that is gaining in popularity worldwide.(Photo: George Frey Getty Images)

At the time, Gross was the chairman and CEO of HOPE Federal Credit Union, a low-income designated institution in Lakewood. In exchange for more than $150,000 in bribes – paid to bank accounts in the name of Hope Cathedral – Gross allowed Lebedev and various co-conspirators on the credit unions board of directors.